Written By komlim puldel on Minggu, 04 Mei 2014 | 23.08

Couscous crime ... A man reportedly killed his wife because she didn't know how to make couscous.Source: Supplied

A HUSBAND reportedly tortured and then killed his wife because she "did not know how to cook couscous."

The 47-year-old from Switzerland has been sentenced to life in prison for slitting his wife's throat and attacking her so savagely that she could only be identified by her dental records, The Local reports.

The killing happened in April 2010 after the man raped his partner, from whom he was separated.

He believed that his wife was not capable of looking after the pair's two daughters, aged 9 and 12 at the time, and thought she was having an affair

The Swiss court earlier heard that the man tied his wife to a bed, gagged her and stabbed her in the back 15 times before shooting her in the face with an air gun.

He then strangled her and slit her throat.

The man, who has not been named, then sat down with his daughters after killing his wife and shared a meal.

He reportedly laid next to his wife's dead body before turning himself into police the next day.

On top of his life sentence the man was also ordered to pay each of his daughters 80,000 francs ($98,000) in damages because they have no family in the country.

In handing down his sentence the judge described the man had displayed "barbarism, cruelty and determination" by his actions.

Under Swiss law, the man's life sentence will mean he can request conditional release after serving 15 years in jail.

THE idea of fulfilling work — a job that reflects our passions, talents and values — is a modern invention.

Open Dr. Johnson's celebrated Dictionary, published in 1755, and the word "fulfilment" doesn't even appear. But today, our expectations are higher, which helps explain why job satisfaction has declined to a record low.

Instead of thinking then acting, we should act first and reflect later by trying out jobs in the real world.

If you count yourself among those who are unhappy in their job, or at least have that occasional nagging feeling that your work and self are out of alignment, how are you supposed to go about finding a meaningful career? What does it take to overcome the fear of change and negotiate the labyrinth of choices, especially in tough economic times?

Here are six pieces of essential wisdom drawn from some of the best brains in the field.

CONFUSION IS PERFECTLY NORMAL

First, a consoling thought: being confused about career choice is perfectly normal and utterly understandable. In the pre-industrial period, there were around thirty standard trades — you might decide to be a blacksmith or a barrel-maker — but today, career websites list over 12,000 different jobs.

(Dazed) and confused about your career? It's not necessarily a bad thing.Source: Supplied

The result? We can become so anxious about making the wrong choice that we end up making no choice at all, staying in jobs that we have long grown out of. Psychologist Barry Schwartz calls this the "paradox of choice:" Too many options can lead to decision paralysis, and we are like rabbits caught in the headlights.

Then, add to this our built-in aversion to risk. Human beings tend to exaggerate everything that could possibly go wrong or, as Nobel prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman says, "we hate losing twice as much as we love winning," whether at the casino table or when making career choices. So our brains are not well calibrated for daring to change professions. We need to recognise that confusion is natural and get ready to move beyond it.

BEWARE OF PERSONALITY TESTS

Many people are enticed by personality tests, which claim to be able to assess your character and then match you with a career. It's a reassuring idea, but the evidence for their usefulness is flimsy.

Take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the world's most popular psychometric test, which places you in one of sixteen personality types. Despite its ubiquity, the Myers-Briggs has been widely criticised by professional psychologists for over three decades, partly due to its lack of reliability.

If you retake the test after five weeks, there is around a 50 per cent chance that you will be placed into a different personality category than you were the first time.

Moreover, according to Marshall University psychologist David Pittenger, there is " no evidence to show a positive relation between [a person's Myers-Briggs] type and success within an occupation ... nor is there any data to suggest that specific types are more satisfied within specific occupations than are other types." He advises "extreme caution in its application as a counselling tool."

So don't let any anyone tell you what you can and can't be on the basis of a personality pigeonhole they want to put you in.

AIM TO BE A WIDE ACHIEVER, NOT A HIGH ACHIEVER

For over a century, western culture has been telling us that the best way to use our talents and be successful is to specialise and become a high achiever — an expert in a narrow field, such as a corporate tax accountant or an anaesthetist.

But an increasing number of people feel that this approach fails to cultivate the many facets of who they are. For them, it makes more sense to embrace the idea of being a "wide achiever" rather than a high achiever.

Take inspiration from Renaissance generalists like Leonardo da Vinci, who would paint one day, then do some mechanical engineering, followed by a few anatomy experiments on the weekend.

Today this is called being a "portfolio worker," doing several jobs simultaneously, often freelance. Management thinker Charles Handy says this is not just a good way of spreading risk in an insecure job market, but is an extraordinary opportunity made possible by the rise of opportunities for flexible work: "For the first time in the human experience, we have a chance to shape our work to suit the way we live instead of our lives to fit our work. We would be mad to miss the chance."

Ask yourself this: What would being a wide achiever encompass for me?

FIND WHERE YOUR VALUES AND TALENTS MEET

The wisest single piece of career advice was proffered 2,500 years ago when Aristotle declared, "Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation." And he would surely endorse contemporary research findings showing that those pursuing money and status are unlikely to feel fulfilled.

The Mercer Global Engagement Scale places "base pay" as only number seven out of 12 factors predicting job satisfaction.

Aristotle: "Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation."Source: News Limited

The best alternative, says Harvard's Howard Gardner, is to find an ethical career, focused on values and issues that matter to you, which also allows you to do what you're really good at. That might sound like a luxury when there are long lines at job centres. But consider that in the 34 countries of the OECD, the social enterprise sector (in which organisations strive not only to make profits but to also improve social and environmental conditions) is growing 250 per cent faster than the rest of the economy.

So imagine yourself in three parallel universes, in each of which you can spend next year trying a job where your talents meet the needs of the world. What three jobs would you be excited to try?

ACT FIRST, REFLECT LATER

The biggest mistake people make when changing careers is following the traditional "plan then implement" model. You draw up lists of personal strengths, weaknesses and ambitions, then match your profile to particular professions; at that point you start sending out applications. But there's a problem: it typically doesn't work. You might find a new job, but despite your expectations, it is unlikely to be fulfilling.

Ask successful career changers how to overcome the fear and most say that in the end you have to stop thinking and just do it.

What we need to do is turn this model on its head. Instead of thinking then acting, we should act first and reflect later by trying out jobs in the real world by shadowing, interning or volunteering, thereby testing out careers through experiential learning.

Facebook's motto is "Fail fast, fail often".Source: AFP

Laura van Bouchout gave herself the thirtieth birthday present of spending a whole year trying thirty different jobs — a kind of "radical sabbatical." She was manager of a cat hotel, then shadowed a Member of the European Parliament. She eventually found that working in advertising was unexpectedly exhilarating.

But don't think that you have to resign on Monday morning to try this. Rather, you can pursue "branching projects" — what organisational behaviour expert Herminia Ibarra calls "temporary assignments" — on the side of your existing job. Disenchanted with banking? Then try teaching yoga or doing freelance web design on the weekends. Such small experiments can give you the courage to make big — and well-informed — changes.

Challenge yourself: What is your first branching project going to be? And what is the very first step you can take towards making it happen?

DISCOVER A LITTLE MADNESS

Changing careers is a frightening prospect: Of those who want to leave their jobs, around half are too afraid to take the plunge. But ultimately, there is no avoiding the fact that it is a risk.

Ask successful career changers how to overcome the fear and most say the same thing: in the end, you have to stop thinking and just do it. That may be why nearly all cultures have recognised that to live a meaningful and vibrant existence, we need to take some chances — or else we might end up looking back on our lives with regret.

It's alright to be a little nutty.Source: News Corp Australia

"Carpe diem," advised the Roman poet Horace: Seize the day before it is too late. "If not now, when?" said the rabbinical sage Hillel the Elder. Personally, I like the way Zorba the Greek puts it: "A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares to cut the rope and be free."

It is only by treating our working lives as an ongoing experiment that we will be able to find a job that is big enough for our spirits.

Roman Krznaric is a cultural thinker and writer on the art of living. He is a founding faculty member of The School of Life in London, and advises organisations including Oxfam and the United Nations. His latest book is Empathy: A Handbook for Revolution.

This article originally appeared on AskMen and was republished with permission.

THREE-year-old Nicholas Forwood's cancer treatment left him so radioactive he had to be isolated in a lead-lined room and his carers had to wear Geiger counters when treating him.

The toddler, from Turramurra in Sydney, has spent most of the last 11 months in hospital battling the killer childhood cancer neuroblastoma and his bravery has inspired his siblings to raise $90,000 for medical research.

Nicholas' ten-year-old sister Charlotte and his 12-year-old brother Luke are aiming to raise $120,000 to pay for the clinical trial of a promising new treatment for neuroblastoma being developed by Australian company Novogen but it may come too late for Nicholas.

Doctors say there is just a one-in-five chance Nicholas will be alive in a year's time when trials of the drug begin.

This week he begins a painful experimental immunotherapy treatment his parents hope will send his cancer into remission but it carries a rare risk it could stop his heart, liver and kidneys working and leave him blind.

Nicholas' father Tom Forwood said by the time doctors diagnosed his cancer in May last year it was a stage-four high-risk disease that had spread throughout his body.

He had five cycles of chemotherapy and surgery to remove a large tumour from his abdomen but the cancer was still there.

In late January doctors injected Nicholas with a chemical called MIBG and high-dose radioactive iodine in an attempt to track down remaining cancer cells and burn them away.

The treatment left Nicholas so radioactive he was dangerous to others.

"He was too toxic to be exposed to anyone, he was put in a lead-lined room for five days and ICU nurses were only allowed brief visits and they had to have Geiger counters on them," Tom Forwood says.

Another harrowing high-dose chemotherapy treatment followed that left Nicholas with ulcers through his mouth and internal organs. He was so sore he did not open his mouth for weeks.

When he is not in hospital Nicholas runs and plays and laughs like any three year old.

Tom Forwood says the frustration of watching his little boy endure so much often makes him angry at the world but the way his other children are striving to raise funds for the Kids Cancer Project teaches adults how they should behave.

"I get angry at the world, they are trying to change things," he said.

Luke, Charlotte and Tom Forwood and nine of Mr Forwood's friends and colleagues shaved their heads to raise over $90,000 for the clinical trial of a new neuroblastoma therapy in the last few months.

Charlotte wants to push the donations to $120 000 because that is the most a single family would have ever raised for the Kids Cancer Project.

"We're not doing this for Nicholas, we're trying to get these funds in his honour," says Mr Forwood.

Today, a new research alliance called the Child Oncology Drug Alliance will be launched in Sydney combining the Kids Cancer Project, University of NSW, NewSouth Innovations and Novogen to fast track the development of the new anti-cancer medicine anti-tropomysin pioneered by Australian researchers.

"The Holy Grail of childhood cancer therapy is a medicine that is effective against a tumour such as neuroblastoma, but doesn't leave the sort of damage that the child then has to deal with for the rest of their life," says Novogen chief Graham Kelly.

"We believe the anti-tropomyosins we have developed have the potency, selectivity and safety profile to meet the special needs of children."

You can make a donation to Luke and Charlotte's fundraiser by going to https://give.everydayhero.com/au/luke-charlotte-forwood

There's the vivacious personality, a grin that would melt chocolate and his signature kilt which almost threatened to share more than his vocal ability with viewers of Channel Nine's returning talent search series, The Voice.

THE VOICE: Re-live our live blog of reality music show's return

REALITY MUSIC SHOW: Who are the singers to watch this series

But when the 46-year-old American-born crooner launched into his famous uncle's iconic hit Unforgettable, Cole's family legacy all but took the stage with him.

Performing the Nat King Cole classic for his blind audition was "suggested to me by The Voice staff", but it's Cole's determination to be his own man which he hopes will "invite Australians in to like me".

"Nat died before I was born, but growing up in my father (Freddy's) house was pretty intense. Anybody from George Benson to Frank Sinatra would be around, it was quite a way to watch the business. All my uncles were in the business and as a public family we've always been conscious of doing as many positive things as is possible. It's why I spent most of my career as a composer and songwriter, I wrote really positive songs for Mariah Carey and really wanted to make my own mark as a valuable part of that legacy, not just another wanker with a cool name."

Winning over Ricky Martin and Kylie Minogue with his performance, the married father of two (who moved to Australia in 2010 after meeting his Australian wife Melissa after a performance at Sydney Opera House) paid them back in bear hugs before choosing to join Team Ricky.

"I'm considered at the best of times," Cole said, "but that was such a hard decision. Kylie came at me with such energy, it was overwhelming. Ricky did the same thing but from a different direction and at the last moment I thought 'well here's a guy my age who has reinvented himself more times than I can imagine. What can I tell you, they are both incredible human beings and I'm really blessed they heard something in me."

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am had heard that sound before, with the new Voice coach remembering Cole's former band Miles Long (which also featured Malcolm Jamal Warner, who played Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show).

Cole joked with his one-time support act: "You got famous and we broke up."

With such vast industry experience and musical pedigree, Cole said The Voice was not about winning a competition but winning over a new legion of fans.

"I spent the last few years in clubs with my head down and my last name whispered, if said at all, just trying to get my feet in the clay that is the ground here," he said.

Mentoring some of this year's aspiring singers before the blind auditions, Cole said: "I've seen some of the people on this show who I love and I think Australia needs to know them, needs to love them."

A TEXAS judge has sentenced a confessed rapist to just five years' probation, implying his 14-year-old victim was promiscuous and "wasn't the victim she claimed to be".

Sir Young, 20, pleaded guilty to raping the girl at their Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas when he was 18, even as she told him "no" and "stop", according to the Dallas News .

But State District Judge Jeanine Howard stunned many when she opted for probation, which will include 45 days in jail, and also exempted him from standard sex-offender restrictions, such as staying away from children, attending sex offender treatment, undergoing a sex offender evaluation or refraining from watching pornography.

Howard told the News she made her decision partly because medical records showed the victim had had three sexual partners and had given birth to a baby — both claims the girl has denied.

"There are rape cases that deserve life. There are rape cases that deserve 20 years. Every now and then you have one of those that deserve probation. This is one of those and I stand by it."

According to WFAA, citing Young's handwritten police confession, he and the victim were in the music practice room when they started kissing. He said he tried to put his hands down her pants, but she said "no twice" so he stopped.

He wrote that they began to kiss again, and this time he took off his pants and hers.

"She kept saying, 'No & stop' but I just didn't stop," he wrote.

After the attack, he said she told him, "'Oh God, why did you do this?' I couldn't even answer. I just said sorry numerous times because I just couldn't believe I had did that."

The victim, now 17, said the sentence made her regret coming forward.

"I did what I was supposed to do. I went to the law about this situation," she said. "(But the sentence) says everything I went through was for nothing.

"It would have been better for me not to say anything."

Howard also came under fire for ordering Young to serve community service at a rape crisis centre — a requirement that advocates for sexual assault victims said was unheard of.

"I'm sure she (Howard) probably thought that it was his way of giving back perhaps," said Bobbie Villareal, executive director of the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center "But it's just not an appropriate place for him to do his community supervision.'

Ms Villareal also criticised Young's "lenient" sentence, which she said would act as a "deterrent" for other survivors of sexual assault.

"It sends a devastating message to survivors of sexual assault. That victim's family definitely didn't feel like there was justice for her and for other survivors of sexual assault."

Belly button bursts ... a woman has been awarded compensation after her belly button erupted during a flight.Source: News Corp Australia

PATRICIA Jackson was on a flight home to the UK from Portugal when her belly button erupted and started leaking foul-smelling fluid. She has now been awarded $36,000 in compensation.

Mrs Jackson, 68, told the Hull Daily Mail said she had underwent a tummy tuck in 2005 when she turned 60 because she wasn't happy with her saggy skin after losing a lot of weight.

After finishing the surgery doctors forgot to take her old belly button out.

It wasn't until a year later during a routine check-up that Mrs Jackson's surgeon started to worry because the scarring was really bad.

An ultrasound revealed an infection which was treated with antibiotics.

Then in 2011, Mrs Jackson went on a holiday to Portugal. Before returning to fly home she noticed blisters where her old belly button had been. Then, after she boarded the plane, her belly button burst and began to leak, causing the passenger next to her to complain about the smell.

The flight attendant dressed the wound and Mrs Jackson got her brother to take her immediately to the hospital in Halifax. It was then that doctors discovered that her old bully button was still inside her.

In January she was awarded 22,500 pounds ($36,000) in compensation. Mrs Jackson said she had suffered years of pain and embarrassment.

"I was extremely pleased with the compensation," she said. "The result of my case means that awareness has been raised and it can hopefully change patient care in the future."

Brisbane Roar has won the A-League grand final by defeating Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 in extra time.

Brisbane Roar celebrate after winning the 2014 A-League Grand Final match between the Brisbane Roar and the Western Sydney Wanderers at Suncorp Stadium. Picture: Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

IT'S A FIFA World Cup year and from early June onwards, we'll all be temporary soccer fans for a few weeks or so.

But this game is growing. This game slowly, surely, is taking a stranglehold on the Australian psyche. This game is attracting a new legion of full-time fans – of devotees, diehards and disciples – and there's no better evidence for why than the thrilling A-League grand final.

Besart Berisha of the Roar celebrates victory after the 2014 A-League Grand Final match between the Brisbane Roar and the Western Sydney Wanderers at Suncorp Stadium. Picture: Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

Like many Australians, this reporter would rather watch a game of NRL or AFL or America's NFL than a game of soccer. But this thing is growing on me. You watch a match like Sunday's A-League grand final and you get the sport. You just get it. You might not understand the nuances but you understand the flow, the excitement, the heartbreak, the joy.

Roar wins record third A-League title

The story of this match is a simple one. The first half was a little flat. It was one of those deciders you see in any code where both teams were tentative. Both, it seemed, were more afraid to lose than bold and daring enough to try something that might win the game.

The second half was like walking out of a tame rom-com film and into a movie theatre showing The Fast and the Furious. It was as though both teams had shed a defender each. Where once there were clusters of players, now there were open spaces. Chances came thick and fast and it was the Wanderers who struck first.

Shinji Ono's curling cross was wicked. Normally these things curl in towards the post but the Japanese sensation's cross swung late away from the defender at the near post, right onto the head of defender Matthew Spiranovic, whose header, you'd have to say, was worthy of Tim Cahill. The timing was just perfect.

But the Roar struck back. They left it late, but you sensed they'd come. This is what made the game so great. Even to a soccer non-convert, you could smell the contest was not done with. Follow sport long enough and no matter what the code, you can sense momentum shifting in the same way shorter daylight hours herald a change in seasons.

The Roar struck, and who else but Besart Berisha, the Albanian with the hot temper and the even hotter nose for goal. Minutes earlier, Wanderers coach Tony Popovic had subbed Shinji Ono out of the game. It was a calculated gamble. Defenders, not attackers, were needed with nine minutes to go. But the Wanderers never looked the same without the departing genius who has become the emblem of this multicultural, deeply passionate club.

The first period of extra-time came and went. Then in the second period, the Roar struck. Again, you could smell it coming. As they had done in the grand final two years earlier, the Roar turned a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 win in extra-time. Like a good racehorse, they time their run. They just seem to know where the winning post is.

Brisbane Roar become the A-League's most successful club with a third Championship win as they hosted Western Sydney Wanderers at Suncorp Stadium in the 2013/14 Grand Final

The Roar now has a huge claim to being Australia's best contemporary sporting team, having won three of the last four A-League titles. Don't forget that in that period they also set an Australian record 36-game unbeaten streak. Also, they won this year's minor premiership by a massive 10 points. This is some team. Their title was deserved.

As for the Wanderers, well, if you won awards for having the best fans and the best community engagement and the most likeable coach, you'd give them three Nobel Prizes and a dozen Oscars. But for now, the club which has revolutionised the Sydney sporting scene in just two seasons must be content with being runners-up again.

Jerome Polenz of the Wanderers looks dejected after the Wanderers were defeated by the Roar in extra time during the 2014 A-League Grand Final match between the Brisbane Roar and the Western Sydney Wanderers at Suncorp Stadium. Picture: Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

Soccer, however, will not be content with being runner-up.

Dominant in so many countries around the globe, it is desperate to crack the Australian mainstream, to be a sport people talk about not just on big occasions like this, and on the even bigger days coming in June, but all the time.

This reporter doesn't promise he'll pay a whole bunch of attention later this year when the A-League kicks off again. But every year, people like me watch a little more closely, care a little more, check an extra ladder before we put down the sports pages.

Interestingly, when I covered the A-League Sydney derby earlier this season sitting among the Wanderers supporters, I noted how many of them had no ethnic or family links to the game. They'd just joined the throng because they felt part of something. That, ultimately, is what a gripping grand final like this will help do. Anyone who watched it will surely want another taste.

Whether you're a born-and-bred soccer fan or a once-a-year watcher, you've got to be a bit more passionate about the sport of soccer after a match like this, don't you?

Well played to both teams. And well played Football Federation Australia for allowing it to happen on this scale.

Tragic ... a five-year-old boy in Jakarta has fallen to his death, police say, possibly because he was trying to imitate his favourite superhero.Source: Getty Images

POLICE are investigating if a five-year-old boy in Jakarta was trying to mimic Spider-Man after he jumped out a window to his death after being told he couldn't watch the latest movie in the franchise.

The boy, named only as Valentino, had asked his mother, Eva, 23, if he could watch The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was released during the week. She told him he couldn't because his one-year-old brother, Vincencius, was sick.

"After his request was declined, Valentino then rushed to his room and locked it from the inside," he said.

Police had initially thought the boy might have taken his own life. But the head of Indonesia's criminal justice unit said he was also a hyperactive child who liked to pretend he was a cartoon superhero.

"He liked to imitate films like Iron Man and Captain America," he said.

His mother had gone downstairs to try and get someone to unlock the door but then heard a commotion and realised it was people trying to help her son.

His body was recovered from a fibreglass roof in the apartment complex where people have been placing flowers and tributes over the weekend.